Cotton gin trash disposal unit



Dec. 22, 1953 w. M. GALLowAY COTTON GIN TRASH DISPOSAL UNIT 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed July 7, 1952 INVENTOR.

Dec. 22, 1953 w. M. GALLowAY 2,663,381

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Patented Dec. 22, 1953 UNITED smflesev earEN'r OFFICE coTToN TRASH DISBOSAL William. Gallowarl Taft; Galli.. Application July 7', 1952, Serial; N o.. 297,585

(el. lass-s1.)

Thel present invent-ion. relates to a waste; dis."Y

It has been the prac-tice to: blow, the waste material separated' from the cotton out-.of the gin into. mechanical cyclonesfrornv which the. waste is deposited by gravity into Vehicles or. onto. the ground', although in some: cases cyclonesare not used and the: waste is merely blown out. iii-tov the open air and allowed to. settle.- on the-ground. Since the waste. is highlyY imflammable, such practices create a fire-.hazardand amounts of dust areblown intothe. air sufficient to. consti# tute a nuisance. In the area. of extensive ginningv operations, lint-collects on power and tele'- phone lines causing interferences with service. The present invention contemplates a processingand disposal off the cotton gin waste. which will not. only avoid all ofY the object-ionablefeatures of theseY practices, butwillfrender therecovered waste available. for-.useful employment. as a base for mixed stock' feedsy aso-il conditioner or mulch or a constituenty of wallboard or other moldedproducts. In summary, this isy accomplished by` conveying the waste-laden air stream from a cotton giny to the lower portion of a .waste col-lector tank preferably provided 'with' a plurality` oi baiiles above the point of' admission. oi'the waste-laden air; stream and essentiall7 provided with water sprayingv means the upper-portion thereof. The water sprayacts upon the waste thus introduced into thetank4 to saturate. it, while the decrease the Velocity of.: the Qntrained waste particles, insuring that theyiwill not exit from the open Lippert endof'thc tari-k prior to sulcient exposure to the water spray to eect saturation of all of thewastematerial. Saturated material is. removed from the tank oy a power operated conveyor communicating with a discharge hopper at the. lower.l end Qf th. tank. Meansv are provided i tor recovering and recirculatingthe water usedto. saturate the;y Watte, which is. important for the. purposes of economy since thefflowI isv of the order, of.. ZGOgallons; per minute. Itv isalso a. factor inenriching waste destined for agricultural uses, since; appreciable quantities oi atmospheric nitrogen are. picked up by the sprayvand added tothe. waste. In a modi,- ed form the. device. of: the rpresent inventionv ncludes means for conveying the waste from the dischargehepper which means` compresses it vsufiraient-ly to substantially reduce; its moisture content.; recirculating: the expelled water to the Sprays'.

IThe object. of; thei invention isto pro-f videfan economical and, efficient device. for preventing airborne dispersion of: cotton gin waste and recovering the same in useful form.

The novel features. characterizing the. present invention are defined withl particularity in the appended claims. The. invention itsel, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will bebest understood from the.follQW-. ing description of a preferred embodiment of it, when read in` connection with the accompanying drawings, in which;

Fig-ure lis a view inside elevation of a.. waste disposal device embodying the present invention, aportion of thewaste collector tank wall being brokenvaway to disclose the, interior thereof and certain of the controls; for-the. power operated con-yeyer means being diagrammatically illus-` trated;

Figure 2.V is av view' in sidefelevation and partly insection-off-:a mOd-ied form of conveyer means embodying? features off the present invention ;l

Figure 3dsu a fragmentary View insectionof thelower portion of, the waste collector tanlr of the modified form Urli-ligure 2, illustrating the diss chargehopperv and aportion of the conveyer; saidv section-beingtaken on-the line. 3T3, of Fig.- u-re 2.

As shown in Fig-ure l, the deviceof the presen inventioncomprises a wastel collector tank lr6 provided with means such as. a duct l I communi eating with an; opening |2 in the lower portion of thetank for admitting a waste-.laden air stream tov the lower-portion thereof. The. duct, ll. is,l of cou-rse, in operation of the device, connected t9 the. discharge, duct oi a conventional form Qi .cctv ton ein... sothat. Substantially all. of.. the Waste dscharsedrom therein Willbe-conveyed by airstrearn. to the lower portion of the collector tank. Intermediate the upper and lower portions of the tank, it is preferable to provide bailles, suchas those illustrated at I3' and ill, to disperse the entering air stream and reduce its velocityv so that entrained'particles of' waste will not be carried out of the tank too rapidly; the upper portion of the tank being, however,y open at It so as tov providev an air4` discharge port and avoid` building u-pexeessigve pressures tlfierein.`

Adjacent the upper end oi', the tank l0 one or more spravheads H are provided to. project a spray' 0f. Water' in a ywlliiter Current with refer.- ene tof-the direction of. travel. Qf ihefwastefladen air stream. toward. the. open upper .endof thetank i5, The spravhead; 01.. heads. l1. are. connected., ashv a eine I8., with, a suitable source of. water under pressure..-

transverse to the Vertical axis of said tank, said cylinder having a foraminous wall portion, a discharge member connected to one end of said cylinder, and a piston reciprocable within said cylinder and adapted to remove water from said waste material by compression thereof above said foraminous wall portion, and to simultaneously force said waste material in said cylinder into said discharge member.

2. In a device of the class described including a vertically positioned waste collector tank having an air discharge port in the upper portion thereof and a discharge hopper in the lower end thereof, and means for admitting a waste laden air stream into the lower portion of said tank above said discharge hopper; the combination of means for removing waste material from the air stream comprising a series of baiiles in said tank intermediate said discharge port and said admitting means, and water spraying means in the upper portion of said tank above said baiiies, whereby the velocity of the waste material entrained in said air stream is substantially reduced in said tank by said baiiles thereby permitting such waste material to be saturated and washed down into said discharge hopper by the water from said spraying means; and means for automatically removing said washed down waste material and water from said hopper comprising a cylinder in peripheral communication with the lower portion of said hopper the axis of said cylinder being transverse to the vertical axis of said tank, said cylinder having a foraminous wall portion, a discharge member connected to one end of said cylinder, a piston reciprocable Within said cylinder and adapted to remove water from said washed down waste material by compression thereof above said foraminous wall portion and to simultaneously force said waste material in said cylinder into said discharge member, and means responsive to the movement of said piston in said cylinder for eiecting repeated oscillations of said piston within said cylinder.

3. In a device of the class described including a vertically positioned waste collector tank having an air discharge port in the upper portion thereof and a discharge hopper in the lower end thereof, and means for admitting a waste laden air stream into the lower portion of said tank above said discharge hopper; the combination of means for removing waste material from the air stream comprising a series of bailles in said tank intermediate said discharge port and said admitting means, and Water spraying means in theY upper portion of said tank above said baies, whereby the velocity of the waste material entrained in said air stream is substantially reduced in said tank by said baies thereby permitting such waste material to be saturated and washed down into said discharge hopper by the water from said spraying means; and means for removing said washed down waste material and Water from said hopper comprising a cylinder in peripheral communication with the lower portion of said hopper the axis of said cylinder being transverse to the vertical axis of said tank, a discharge member connected to one end of said cylinder, and a piston reciprocable within said cylinder and adapted to force waste material and water deposited in said cylinder into said discharge member.

4. In a device of the class described including a vertically positioned waste collector tank having an air discharge port in the upper portion thereof and a discharge hopper in the lower end thereof, and means for admitting a waste laden air stream into the lower portion of said tank above said discharge hopp-er; the combination of means for removing waste material from the air stream comprising a series of baffles in said tank intermediate said discharge port and said admitting means, and water spraying means in the upper portion of said tank above said baies, whereby the velocity of the waste material entrained in said air stream is substantially reduced in said tank by said baiiies thereby permitting such waste material to be Saturated and washed down into said discharge hopper by the water from said spraying means; and means for removing said washed down waste material and water from said hopper comprising a cylinder in peripheral communication with the lower portion of said hopper the axis of said cylinder being transverse to the vertical axis of said tank, a discharge tube connected to one end of said cylinder, a piston reciprocable within said cylinder and adapted to force waste material and water deposited in said cylinder into said discharge tube, and Valve means between the end of said cylinder and said discharge tube for preventing waste material in said tube from being sucked back into said cylinder when the piston isy reciprocated in the opposite direction.

WILLIAM M. GALLOWAY.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 582,791 Kennedy May 18, 1897 825,957 Buckley July 17, 1906 1,793,620 Jacobus Feb. 24, 1931 2,354,674 Fisher Aug. 1, 1944 

